All We Are
by VerelLupin
Summary: She was the only Exception for Cobb. Cobb has always been the Exception to Dreamshare and Arthur is the Exception to the two. But is that who they are? Companion Fic to the Only Exception. Some A/A but is mostly a A/D fic.


**I will be updating Free Falling soon like tomorrow but I finished this one finally and thought I'd post it. This is the companion fic to the Only Exception. You don't have to read that one first but it would help.  
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**Enjoy it...  
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* * *

**I tried to paint you a picture**

"She wants you. You know that, right?"

"She's with you."

"She's not."

"Yes, she is."

"Dom. It's not me she's spending her summer vacation with."

"I have kids."

"They need a mother and you need to move on."

"Goodbye, Arthur." Dominic said and hung up.

**The colors were all wrong**

He visited his best friend a few months later and took her with him.

"James likes her." Arthur noticed as she sat in the dirt and dug out more worms for their fishing trip. Ariadne hated the feel of worms and the smell of fish.

"I was worried. I owe her a lot." Cobb muttered packing their gear.

"That's not why she does it."

**Black and white didn't fit you **

Phillippa got sick at the lake but so did Cobb.

Arthur and her tended to them.

"She wants you." Ariadne said and handed him the blonde girl, "I'm going to take Dom his soup and call Stephen and tell him we have to go."

"I don't like her," the child whispers in his ear.

"She likes you."

"She pretends. She likes daddy more."

"Of course, she doesn't." Arthur replies wiping the child's nose, "we all like you more."

"She likes him differently. I don't want her for my mommy."

He asked the child what she meant but all she kept saying was that she wasn't her mother.

He put Phillippa to bed and gathered his coat. They wouldn't make it to their date night if they didn't leave now.

He grabbed her coat and went to tell her they had to go but he couldn't.

Not when she was squeezing a cloth full of cold water into a basin and then gently draping it over Dom's forehead. Not when Dom looked so helpless and she so worried.

Arthur called Stephen and told him that Ariadne had already fallen asleep and it was too late for such a long drive but that he expected Stephen there first thing in the morning.

He checked on the kids again then on Ariadne. She got up from the chair but only cause Dom was now sleeping and led her to the guest room. They shared the bed but she was up most of the night checking on Dom and the kids.

In the morning he was ready to go but she never said she'd go with him. He left Saito's company and traveled to Buenos Aires without her and she went back to Paris to finish her schooling.

They never had anything. It was just a pretend kiss. It meant nothing to her.

**An all along, you were shaded with patience**

"Are you coming back this year?" she asked.

Arthur said maybe but he figured there wasn't a reason yet. He was leading his first mission when Ariadne came back to Paris.

He asked her to be his Architect. She agreed for two years.

They never told Dom. It didn't seem necessary. He selected his first full team when she completed her third year with him. She was the only one he picked from his old team.

He kissed her for the second time. This was a real kiss and it meant a lot to him.

**Your strokes of everything that I need just to make it.**

"Are you going to tell him that we're still dream sharing?" she asked.

"Does he need to know?

"Yeah, I promised I'd visit and I can't lie to him."

Arthur called Dominic and he was told she was in dream share. Dom only wanted to know if he was taking care of her. He said he was and Dom hung up before Ariadne could get to the phone and talk to him herself.

He broke it off with her on their third date and drove her to the airport two weeks later. She apologized to him but he told her that there was nothing to apologize for and to look him up if she was ever in France again.

**And I can see that…**

She celebrated her 24th birthday with Eames on her first job without him. She called him and he sent her a new scarf.

She told him she missed him and he said he doubted that.

She got him a designer shoulder case for his work and surprised him at his house. They walked the streets of Nice and she told him that Dom and her were officially seeing each other but hadn't told the kids.

**Lord knows I've failed you**

He told her it was better if she kept it a secret for a while. The children might not be ready for a new "anything" just yet.

Ariadne didn't think that was a good idea but she went along with it, he knew the kids better. Dominic agreed to keep them a secret but they couldn't seem to keep their hands off each other when they were alone which prompted a call from a distressed Phillippa, who told him in lurid detail just where her father's hands had been on his 'friend Ariadne.'

She begged him to take her away, that Ariadne was stealing her father more and more each day and he promised to talk to her in an effort to calm his goddaughter down.

He didn't need to. He got another call a few hours later, this time from a teary Ariadne telling him how Phillippa had found out about her and Dom and that flipped out after James had accidentally called her 'mom'.

She told him that Dom had been trying to talk to Phillippa all afternoon but that his daughter refused to talk to him and he was absolutely miserable. Ariadne asked if him if she should just leave.

**Time and again**

He called her two days later and said he was in L.A. for another job and that they needed to talk. She left immediately and spent the whole afternoon with him.

Dom called her several times and she told him that she was with Arthur and she'd call him back. Arthur asked her what she wanted to do about Dom's kids and the situation.

Ariadne asked his advice and he suggested that she go and talk to Phillippa directly, "she doesn't want me there. I'm tearing her and Dom apart."

"What would you like me to say? All I can recommend is time."

"I can't make him wait when I can't wait myself. The kids aren't ready and I don't know if they will ever be," she said.

"Then you need to let them go."

She hugged Arthur and thanked him for his advice. Four days later she packed her bags and left Dominic Cobb's house. He found her sitting in the lobby of his hotel an hour later, "you said to look you up…"

"This isn't France," he said jokingly and she gratefully went into his arms. They spent the night in the same bed because she said they were both adults. But the morning light reminded him that no matter how entangled their limbs had become during the night; she would always love someone other than him.

He got up and dressed when she said Dominic in that half sleepy voice.

**But you and me are all right**

She spent the next few weeks working on several new designs, two for the military and three for his new team. He began working with Dominic and whenever the other Architect asked about her, Arthur cut him off.

It took only three calls before Dominic stopped mentioning her and Ariadne stopped calling to ask if Dom talked about her.

She became an off limits topic and it took four shots of whiskey to stop the guilt Arthur felt for enjoying the time he had with her now that the other member of their trio was gone.

**We won't say our goodbyes **

Phillippa was nineteen and came to his office on her own and demanded to know where Ariadne was. Arthur told her when she said that her father didn't sleep well anymore.

Arthur drove the girl there himself and after dropping her off back at her hotel, endured Ariadne's wrath for allowing Phillippa and Cobb, by extension, a way back into her heart.

She kicked him out of her house and he didn't hear from her again until she showed up at Saito's warehouse in Paris, carrying his favorite coffee and begging his forgiveness for being so ungrateful.

"I don't consider you anything but brilliantly stubborn."

"I guess we have that in common," she said. "The brilliant part anyway."

He offered to take her out to eat and their dinner ended in a kiss that finally meant something to her but it wasn't enough to shut out the jealousy that screamed in his mind that he was not the one, whom she had first shared dreams with in Paris.

**You know it's better that way**

They went out for a while but she soon began to pull away leaving him drawing conclusions that never came close to what she was going through and he was too proud to ask.

They never got more physical than make out sessions and he felt cheated of something he shouldn't have expected anyway. Still he knew their little drama was over when she made dinner and told him that she had to move out of his apartment right away.

**We won't break, we won't die**

"Why, I thought we were okay," he asked.

"I'm so awful, I should have told you but I wasn't sure. I didn't think it was possible but I know now and it's why I couldn't bring myself to-"

"Sleep with me?"

"Yes, it be so wrong to drag you further into my mess."

"What are you talking about?"

"The day after Phillippa left my apartment I got a call from James. He said that Phillippa was beside herself. I didn't hesitate and went to see her."

"Dom was there."

"He asked why was I there and I realized that Phillippa had never told him she had been in contact with me. I had thought she'd come at his request but she hadn't. She saw us talking and begged us to spend one more day together, she wanted to know if she'd been the one to ruin it for us."

"Did she?" Arthur had asked.

"No. It was a lot of issues though that was one of them, it wasn't the main one."

**It's just a moment of change**

She broke down and he knew that she'd agreed. That she'd gone with Dom.

"It was one last fling. One last goodbye."

"But it wasn't." he said sadly.

"Arthur. I'm pregnant."

**All we are**

"Dom will be happy," he said calmly but inside he was breaking. "When are you going to tell him?"

**All we are, is everything that's right**

"I'm not. I can't but I do need to leave. I need to give you a chance to be happy. You deserve it more than anybody I've ever known. You deserve better than me."

**All we need**

"Then stay and let me take care of you meanwhile. I won't leave my friend all alone especially at such a critical time. No strings attached."

**All we need, a lover's alibi**

"I couldn't, it wouldn't be fair."

"It wasn't fair the moment you laid eyes on him and I laid eyes on you but if you ever loved me, you'll let me do this."

"Why?"

"Because I can't change the fact that I love you but I can try to change the way I do."

**I walked a minute in your shoes**

Slowly he began to let go of what he'd loved about her and found new things to care about. His jobs were more complicated and though she contributed to them, he developed his own identity, his own method of running a team that didn't mimic Cobb's way. He respected her views and she opened his eyes up to his potential and what he'd been holding back.

**They never would've fit**

He wanted his feelings for her to magically morph into brotherly concern but it wasn't that easy. It led to fights and arguments and other horrible things that included him leaving her with eyes puffy from crying and staying away from their apartment for days.

**I figured there's nothing to lose**

Eames came over first to mediate the fighting and later to narrate them until they realized how stupid they were being. They spoke honestly for the first time when the baby kicked after a particularly vicious fight.

It was only when their ex-leader was mentioned that he realized that she couldn't be happy here with him, content maybe but never truly happy. She needed Cobb as much as Cobb needed her and he wouldn't let himself be an obstacle and ruin their chances.

She gained more weight and her petite frame waddled but he was still able to convince her to go to the Louvre. Eames went with them and insisted on taking a picture of them in front of the museum to preserve the moment.

Eames told him to hug her belly extra tight and Arthur complied.

**I need to get, some perspective on these words before I write them down**

The picture is in postcard format and delivered directly to Cobb's office. It was accompanied by a letter that nobody ever saw after it was read.

Regardless of what you believe, she still loves you.

Arthur.

At three in the morning he got a call from Dominic telling him that she had made her decision that long ago night and that he respected and loved her enough not to tie her down to an emotionally crippled man with children too old for her to be a mother to.

"She's with you not me. That was her choice, it was a good one."

"You're the reason that she's here with me now," Arthur said.

"That's not true. You're a great man."

"I'm not so great. If I was I wouldn't be telling you this behind her back."

"Then tell her, Arthur. I've ruined enough lives." Dom pleaded.

"She was dying to see what your kids looked like." Arthur said it matter of factly. "She nearly died bringing you back to them."

"Coming back with me didn't make a difference."

"I did for her. Stop being blind."

This time Arthur hung up on Dom.

**You're an island and my ship has run aground**

He told Eames to give Phillippa their address if she ever asked. He hadn't seen his friend really smile since Mal had died and since Ariadne left and she had never let Dom go.

**Lord knows I fail you time and again**

Phillippa showed up at his doorstep and he left them alone. The bakery down the street was open all hours and the girl there was very nice.

**But you and me were all right**

When he got back Phillippa was asleep in the guest room and Ariadne was drinking tea and wondering how to tell him she was leaving, he could tell by how she kept fiddling with the string on the tea bag.

**We won't say our goodbyes **

She only did that when she was nervous about telling him something.

**You know its better that way**

"Need help packing?"

"Is it obvious?"

**We won't break, we won't die**

"Yeah but I've been living with you off and on for years. And you are one of my closest if not the closest friend I have. I know your quirks by now."

"What if I'm making a mistake?"

**It's just a moment of change**

"You aren't but just in case I'll be here to help if you need it."

"You're too good." She says.

**All we are**

He laughed and agreed with her. She finished her tea and he ushered her to bed and in the morning between the three of them they pack her off to her new life.

**All we are, is everything that's right**

He drove them to the airport and Eames helped Ariadne with their bags. Phillippa hugged him and whispered. "You were right, Uncle Arthur. I'm sorry for the trouble I caused you all."

**All we need **

"Promise me that you'll talk to me if you ever have a problem with your father or Ariadne and we'll call it even."

"Promise."

**All we need, a lover's alibi**

He was back in L.A. less than a week later and gets a call from a frantic Dominic telling him Ariadne has gone into labor. He is the first to arrive and the last to leave. He's the first to see Dominic's new baby boy and the only one to hold him besides Dominic.

**Every single day that I can breathe you change my philosophy**

Phillippa wanted to name him Arthur. Dominic told him he's okay with it if Arthur is. He looks at the man that's the older brother he never had and tells him it's not necessary.

He knows the unknown months he spent with Ariadne will always be a question mark to Dominic and Arthur won't let him have doubts about the woman they both love.

**I'm never gonna let you pass me by**

Dominic understands the sacrifice Arthur made.

**So don't say your goodbyes **

"Would it be insensitive of me to ask you to be my best man or should I go to my alternate."

"Alternate?" Eames burst out outraged from behind them.

"It is a little bit but I'd be really offended if you didn't ask at all."

"So if that a yes, sweetheart?" Eames asked poking Arthur in the side.

**You know its better that way**

"Yes, I'll be your best man as long as I can get the tuxes. I don't trust either one of your fashion tastes."

Cobb accepted and they hugged it out in the manliest way possible.

**We won't break, we won't die**

Six months later the whole team is recruited to help with the wedding. Saito flies Stephen, his wife, Yusuf and his wife as well as a certain pretty redhead that Arthur is very mysterious about to plan it all out.

Arthur is grateful for the help. Matthew Cobb is a real handful and he loves his Uncle Arthur.

**It's just a moment of change**

He watched Ariadne and Dominic say their vows and is sincerely happy for them. His feelings aren't totally gone but he knows that they will vanish in time. He knows where she belongs and it isn't with him.

**So don't say your goodbyes **

He handed the rings to Dom and he squeezed his hand once more in gratitude. Eames smirked knowingly and patted Arthur hard nearly making him stumble.

**You know its better that way**

They get out of the chapel to take the wedding party pictures and there is a lot of discussion about where little Ari will stand since she's so short. Ariadne threatened Eames with bodily harm after the third time he mentioned her stature.

**We won't break, we won't die**

Arthur assured her that she's not short and Eames asked Phillippa, rather loudly, if her father was ever jealous of the easy camaraderie that Ariadne has with Arthur. Dom scowled at Eames and Saito smoothly tells Arthur that they should take the pictures before the groom stops smiling all together.

**It's just a moment of change**

The last few shots can't be agreed upon and everybody argues about the best angles and lighting until Ariadne stopped it short with a swift but meaningful kiss on the shocked Dom that silenced the group and allowed the harassed photographer to finish.

He muttered that no amount of money is worth dealing with this lot again.

**All we are**

At the reception Arthur clinked his glass and stood up to deliver his speech.

"He is the man I love like a brother. She is the woman I loved like no other. That rhymed." He said nervously and feels the eyes of the two most important people in his world riveted to him along with every guest.

**All we are, is everything that's alright**

"Dominic you are the worst and best thing to happen to me. I met you at the worst time of my life. I had just lost my parents and I was the new kid in a new school and a new country. You helped me when you didn't have the time or the energy and you told me that just because we aren't related by blood didn't mean we weren't family."

The groom blinked but his eyes remained shiny.

"Even after everything that happened I knew you'd always be there for me and I hope I can repay you the favor."

"You already have," the groom replied.

**All we need**

He turned to the bride, the beautiful glowing bride, "Ariadne, you were the best thing to happen to Dom and the worst thing to happen to me, when I realized how perfect you were for each other and how unfair it was that he got to meet you first and therefore giving me zero chance with you."

**All we need, a lover's alibi**

There were some chuckles in the room but three people knew that it was the truest statement he'd ever made.

"But even when occupied by Mr. Cobb, you always lent a hand and perspective whenever I needed it. I work a lot less hard because of you and that I can never repay.

She mouths 'your welcome' and he continues, "I feel extraordinary fortunate to have gotten to know you both during the most trying moment of our lives because it has shown me we can endure anything as long as we stick together. So with that I wish you both happy lives in our little dysfunctional family for ever and ever."

**So don't say our goodbyes you know its better**

Arthur sat down amidst a roaring applause and an annoying forger hauled him back up and made him bow bashfully.

The music started and wedding proceeds with the first dances and the traditional games. The cake is cut and the happy couple smiled for the camera and for everybody that wanted to take a picture with them.

The DJ started the real dancing party and Ariadne snagged him for a techno beat that would have made him cringe if it were anybody but her.

"You really are an exceptional man, Arthur."

"Thank you."

"No. Thank you, for what you did."

"It was nothing."

"It was everything," she said gazing at her new husband.

**We won't break, we won't die**

Arthur placed her back in Dominic's arms and danced with his own date. Family is what they are now and he is content with that.


End file.
